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Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Search TipsSample Searches | Identification Codes Sample Searches (4)The following sample searches are provided as guides to general types of searches in the Public Papers databases. Unless otherwise indicated, the searches are performed in the database for volume one of President Clinton's 1997 Public Papers. For the sake of space, only the top three hits in each results list are included with each example below.
Subject | Document Type | Name | Country This type of search returns documents that are related to a specific subject. The word(s) that you enter as your search term(s) may appear anywhere within the document.
Performing a search with a subject keyword may produce different results than consulting the subject index, because a search returns all documents that contain the literal search term as little as one time, whereas the subject index has been created to identify documents that are substantially concerned with a particular subject. This type of search returns documents that are of a certain type. You may want to include subject keywords to narrow your search.
When you are interested in a specific type of document, you may also consider consulting the document categories list. However, some document types, such as transcripts of conferences, do not have their own category in the list. In this kind of situation, a traditional search may be more effective than use of the document categories list or a similar tool. This type of search returns documents that contain a specific name. Results may vary greatly depending on how your query is constructed. See the three searches below for a comparison. Example 1:
Example 2:
Example 3:
In the three searches above, the differences in the format and content of the queries account for a fairly wide disparity in the number of relevant documents returned. "Albright" is the least restrictive query, because it requires only that a document contain the Secretary of State's last name; thus it returns the largest number of hits. "Madeleine adj Albright" returns 19 fewer hits than the first search, because it is more restrictive; it returns only the documents that contain the phrase "Madeleine Albright" and does not return documents that make reference to the Secretary of State by only her title or last name. The most restrictive query is "Albright adj Madeleine," because it requires that the Secretary of State's last name precede her first name within a document. The single hit for this final search is the Public Papers name index, which lists her as "Albright, Madeleine." This type of search returns documents that are related to a specific country. The country could be the subject of a document, or it could be the location where an event, such as a meeting or news conference, was held.
Identification CodesWhen a query is returned, the title of each document from Public Papers of the Presidents is preceded by an identification code. The identification code contains two elements: the year and volume of the Public Papers. For example: [1998 Public Papers of the Presidents--Vol. 1] Memorandum on Actions To Improve Children's Health Insurance Outreach June 22, 1998. |
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